Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s vehicle was attacked in Girivar village in his constituency Marwahi and a complaint was received by the Election Commission against Chief Minister Raman Singh for allegedly defying the code of conduct. Other than that Chhattisgarh elections on Thursday largely passed off peacefully with 65 to 70 per cent electorate exercising their right to franchise.
Chief electoral officer Alok Shukla said polling for the second phase was peaceful with 65 to 70 per cent people casting their votes as per reports received till evening. The Election Commission will lodge a police case against the Chief Minister for airing a political message on a local FM radio channel. Shukla said independent candidate Virendra Pandey complained regarding a political message aired by Singh on Thursday. After investigating the complaint, the EC found the complaint to be true and decided to lodge a case against Singh.
Regarding the incidence in Marwahi, police sources said some villagers pelted stones on Jogi’s vehicle, smashing its window when he was visiting a poll booth in Girivar. While Jogi’s supporters termed it a case of political revenge, BJP workers alleged that Jogi’s supporters were attempting booth capturing.
Though the vehicle was damaged, the police sources confirmed that Jogi was not in the vehicle when the incident took place. After the incident, security of Jogi was beefed up.
The sources said members a rival political party took objection when they saw the former
Chief Minister entering the polling booth with a group of supporters in attendance. Keeping in mind his physical condition, Jogi can be accompanied only with a certain number of attendants.
After the incident Jogi’s supporter Gyanendra Upadhyay registered a complaint with the CEO, who in turn registered a report at the Marwahi ploice station under sections 147, 341 and 427 of the IPC.
In an incident in Raipur, a complaint was also registered against state Youth Congress leader Yogesh Tiwari on charges of assaulting a BJP worker. SP Amit Kumar confirmed that a case had been registered against Tiwari.
In the second phase polling in Chhattisgarh, Jogi is one of the heavyweights in the fray for 51 seats spread across eight districts. Other prominent leaders in the electoral battle include Jogi’s wife Renu Jogi, BJP state president Vishnu Deo Sai, Congress state president Dhanendra Sahu, deputy speaker Badridhar Diwan, home minister Ram Vichar Netam and Congress leader Nandkumar Patel
The fate of 687 candidates, including 58 women, were decided by 88,14,228 electorate. The BJP and BSP contested on all 51 seats, the Congress in 48 and the NCP in three. The battle in the tribal-dominated state is virtually centered between Singh and Jogi.
While 65 per cent turnout was reported in Raipur district, in Raigarh it was 66, Korba 63, Jashpur 65, Bilaspur 65, Sarguja 68, Koria 64, and Janjgir and Chapa 64 per cent.
As many as 12,073 polling stations across the eight districts were set for the polling. Fifty five per cent turnout was registered in the violence marred first phase of elections on November 14 for 39 constituencies of the 90-member assembly.
In this poll, in Marwahi, a party worker tried to run off with an EVM and at Beltra another one tried to tamper with the
EVM.
